Econoday Report: Redbook January 6, 2009

Redbook

Released on 1/6/2009 8:55:00 AM For wk1/3, 2009

	Prior	Actual
Store Sales Y/Y change	-0.4 %	-1.3 %

Highlights
Redbook and ICSC-Goldman Sachs show conflicting signals for the post-Christmas shopping week. ICSC-Goldman, posted earlier this morning, shows a -0.8% year-on-year pace for a 1 percentage point improvement from the prior week, while Redbook reports a -1.3% rate for a nearly 1 percentage point drop from the prior week. Redbook warns that promotions are very heavy which points to new pressures on margins. Chain stores will post their monthly results on Thursday with expectations very weak.

Definition
A weekly measure of sales at chain stores, discounters, and department stores. It is a less consistent indicator of retail sales than the weekly ICSC index. It is also calculated differently than other indicators. For instance, figures for the first week of the month are compared with the average for the entire previous month. When two weeks are available, then these are compared with the average for the previous month, and so on. It might be more useful to compare year-over-year figures since these are indeed compared to the comparable week a year ago. This index is correlated with the general merchandise portion of retail sales covering only about 10 percent of total retail sales. Why Investors Care